Ice cube trays utilized for forming ice cubes conventionally comprise a body having one or more rows of cavities into which the water is introduced for freezing. In most ice cube trays that are conventionally used, the ice cubes are removed by inverting the tray and applying heat such as hot water to cause the ice cubes to fall out of the tray, by flexing the tray, or by actuating some mechanism to loosen the ice cubes.
It has heretofore been suggested that selective removal of ice cubes from a tray without affecting the remaining ice cubes might be achieved by having the cavities formed with arcuate bottom surfaces or walls so that by manipulation of a single ice cube a rotating motion is applied to the ice cubes permitting its removal without inverting the tray. Such ice cubes are found in the art as for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,868,503, 1,889,481, 2,269,642, 2,769,742, and 3,120,112.
One of the problems with respect to such ice cube trays is that in filling or in the case where the ice cube tray is tilted before freezing, the water tends to overflow from one cavity to another and in some instances causes a frozen connection between adjacent cavities that is difficult to break loose in attempting to remove one or more ice cubes and cracking or shattering of the tray often results. The problem is even more critical where the tray is made of plastic and the water tends to flow more readily from one cavity to another or in wherein communication is provided between cavities intentionally to insure filling of the cavities such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,868,503 or 3,120,112.
Accordingly among the objects of the invention are to provide a plastic ice cube tray wherein the ice cubes can be readily removed.